We have finally arrived at our new (actually quite old) home, have unpacked mostly, and have begun settling in. That includes building furniture, rebuilding furniture that was damaged in the move and refurbishing furniture that keeps showing up that just happens to "fit" in a familiar corner or alcove that needed that forlorn piece redone just so. It also means fixing the persistent leak in the downstairs shower, mowing the persistent lawn and weeding the persistent weeds that love the Oregon rain. The shop (garage) is taking form so that I can accomplish some of the above mentioned but will have to be disassembled to be sheetrocked and insulated as well as the basement ceiling needing the same treatment. No layout work done yet but materials are beginning to pile up. I have to add a couple of lighting circuits and one plug circuit.
The layout plans are coming along both on my end and my brother's. Things would be looking much better if there were 36 hours in a day. All of which is to say......The U6b's are still packed in their shipping crates. I don't really have a workbench on which to spread things out and begin building. One step at a time. This is all an integral part of the layout as I have a location tentatively marked out for a workshop, dispatchers office, donut shop etc. but until I'm absolutely sure of that I'm not going to build a new wall. I don't mind work, I just loath doing the same work twice.......
I'll try to get some of my sketches of the layout up on the blog and some other stuff as soon as I figure out how to get that done. I don't design in the computer, obviously, so I have to scan my drawings and import them etc....sometimes they go off to cyberland and I can't find them. I get angry and the good day go's to hell. I have promised myself to learn CAD for years but I know I would have to suffer many bad days in hell to get there and I am not yet prepared to do that. Maybe tomerrow......
Did I mention that I am the proud owner of a 275 gallon tank that once held diesel oil that fed the monstrous old defunct furnace? The oval shaped one like you see on most layouts. Yes, it sits smack dab in the middle of the west end of the main terminal of the biggest town on the railroad. Or at least that spot on the basement floor. It's free to anyone who can get it up the basement stairs and out into the Oregon sunshine. Just thought I'd let you be the first to know......
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Amtrak Oregon Basements
There is a new shift occuring in the U6B project as well as the rest of my life, it seems. You may have noticed a lack of work reporting on the "project" here and there is a perfectly good reason for that. It is my fault for not keeping you up to date but I was somewhat busy and I wasn't building models.
My wife and I were enfolded in the capable hands of Amtrak crews operating #'s 1 and 14 West bound and 2 and 11 East bound in between which we were basement hunting. At least I was. She found a wonderful 1922 vintage Craftsman house atop, if not my dream basement, at least a reasonable facsimile thereof. Oregon is going to be very good for my boat building endeavors as well as my peace of mind (all of those trees!)
The trip was spectacular, snow at Dunsmuir and Cascade Summit and the Coast was its usual self, the food spectacular, the complaints we heard only from guests used to 5 star hotels and the Roomette too small. Next time a full blown Bedroom for sure. The trains were on time, every time. We were amazed that people did not tip the staff who worked their tails off.
Saw very few freight trains on the Coast but many on the Sunset route. It has changed much since I last worked there and I was surprised to find that Palm Springs had moved to the short siding at Garnet! Must have been a really bad earthquake! This was before the stUPid tore up Walong. I imagine it is much more difficult to get Amtrak up the Coast on time now.
At any rate this is just a short note to inform the followers that during the process of packing, moving, unpacking etc. there is probably not going to be much modeling occuring. In fact most of my tools have already been squirreled away. This is not all bad. When the dust settles there is this 20x36 foot hole in the ground I can't wait to get started filling with layout. On the other hand escrow hasn't closed and anything could happen.
Have aquired a few new Bachmann cars via Ebay. I bid only on The Favoritespot from Texas and have had outstanding results. They have a storefront and have run down stuff for me that UPS failed to deliver. The prices are impossible to beat.
My wife and I were enfolded in the capable hands of Amtrak crews operating #'s 1 and 14 West bound and 2 and 11 East bound in between which we were basement hunting. At least I was. She found a wonderful 1922 vintage Craftsman house atop, if not my dream basement, at least a reasonable facsimile thereof. Oregon is going to be very good for my boat building endeavors as well as my peace of mind (all of those trees!)
The trip was spectacular, snow at Dunsmuir and Cascade Summit and the Coast was its usual self, the food spectacular, the complaints we heard only from guests used to 5 star hotels and the Roomette too small. Next time a full blown Bedroom for sure. The trains were on time, every time. We were amazed that people did not tip the staff who worked their tails off.
Saw very few freight trains on the Coast but many on the Sunset route. It has changed much since I last worked there and I was surprised to find that Palm Springs had moved to the short siding at Garnet! Must have been a really bad earthquake! This was before the stUPid tore up Walong. I imagine it is much more difficult to get Amtrak up the Coast on time now.
At any rate this is just a short note to inform the followers that during the process of packing, moving, unpacking etc. there is probably not going to be much modeling occuring. In fact most of my tools have already been squirreled away. This is not all bad. When the dust settles there is this 20x36 foot hole in the ground I can't wait to get started filling with layout. On the other hand escrow hasn't closed and anything could happen.
Have aquired a few new Bachmann cars via Ebay. I bid only on The Favoritespot from Texas and have had outstanding results. They have a storefront and have run down stuff for me that UPS failed to deliver. The prices are impossible to beat.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Finally able to do some work on the model. These are photo's of another "House of cards" assemblage of the cab this time. Obviously a lot of hours of work to do yet but nice to see things shaping up. The side cab windows slide and much detail is yet to be added of course. Headlights, windshield wipers, heater intakes, door hinges, sand box fillers and clean outs etc. etc. That is AFTER I get it all cleaned up and smoothed out.
This is a three layer lamination of styrene with brass channel and angle used to mount the window material. I have tried to use glass for years, even bought some and broke it for this model. Reverted to acrylic which seems to reflect the light pretty much like glass and is a whole lot easier to work with. I'll try the glass in the yard office when I get to it.
I goofed the frame by laying out and installing the diamond plate running boards before I built the cab. Then I changed my mind and added the Um6B type nose, it reminded me of the U33's which I hated to the bone. (There is no explaining humanity) Now the cab won't sit tight on the frame. No problem, the second frame is far enough along to be ready for this cab. You nit pickers out there can have a field day with this if you want but I guarantee you I can devise a scenario that will cover everthing you find on this engine including the nose. Besides it looks kinda cute on this little bitty U-boat. And the first frame is going to revert to a project that will drive the nit pickers right out of their minds. Bet you didn't know GE built a U6B "B" unit, did 'ya? *
I asked on the Yahoo list if anyone knew of the performance of the Micro-Mark motor and got no response. So I'll ask again here and see if anyone out there who might read this would have had some experience with their product. The price seems right and all the drive train components fit it so it would be real handy to deal with. Thanks in advance for any advice.
*Actually I've never seen one, but I'm going to imagineer this one just for fun and it will fit my operating scheme just fine. After having wrestled with the cab of this model I've had it for a while, hoods are much easier to deal with !
This is a three layer lamination of styrene with brass channel and angle used to mount the window material. I have tried to use glass for years, even bought some and broke it for this model. Reverted to acrylic which seems to reflect the light pretty much like glass and is a whole lot easier to work with. I'll try the glass in the yard office when I get to it.
I goofed the frame by laying out and installing the diamond plate running boards before I built the cab. Then I changed my mind and added the Um6B type nose, it reminded me of the U33's which I hated to the bone. (There is no explaining humanity) Now the cab won't sit tight on the frame. No problem, the second frame is far enough along to be ready for this cab. You nit pickers out there can have a field day with this if you want but I guarantee you I can devise a scenario that will cover everthing you find on this engine including the nose. Besides it looks kinda cute on this little bitty U-boat. And the first frame is going to revert to a project that will drive the nit pickers right out of their minds. Bet you didn't know GE built a U6B "B" unit, did 'ya? *
I asked on the Yahoo list if anyone knew of the performance of the Micro-Mark motor and got no response. So I'll ask again here and see if anyone out there who might read this would have had some experience with their product. The price seems right and all the drive train components fit it so it would be real handy to deal with. Thanks in advance for any advice.
*Actually I've never seen one, but I'm going to imagineer this one just for fun and it will fit my operating scheme just fine. After having wrestled with the cab of this model I've had it for a while, hoods are much easier to deal with !
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